The latest survey from the Nationwide Building Society has revealed a fall in UK consumer confidence for the month of September. The building society’s consumer confidence index plunged 9 points to 53 in September – its lowest level in over a year. Commenting on the survey, Nationwide chief economist Martin Gahbauer, said the forthcoming spending [...]
There is worrying news for the economy today after the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said retail sales growth eased in September. The BRC said consumers are holding off purchasing big-ticket items as they prepare themselves for massive spending cuts, introduced by the Government to slash the budget deficit. Many reports have suggested economic growth will [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) today announced UK retail sales growth slowed in July as Government spending cuts dented consumer confidence. According to the BRC, like-for-like sales grew 0.5% in July compared with a year ago, down from 1.2% in June. However, food sales remained strong but big-ticket items were weak. Sales over the last [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) today said UK retail sales rose in June due to the hot weather in the latter part of the month. According to the BRC, like-for-like sales rose 1.2% in June compared with the same month a year ago, and were up 0.8% from May – the best reading since March. [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today reported a rise in UK retail sales for the month of May. The Consortium said sales were boosted by the warm weather, as well a high demand for clothing. Furthermore, the forthcoming World Cup tournament boosted television sales, while non-food non-store sales surged 21.9% – the strongest performance [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today reported a sharp fall in UK retail sales for the month of April. According to the BRC, the total value of sales fell by 0.2% in April on an annual basis, while the like-for-like drop was 2.3% – the steepest fall since December 2008. However, the figures suggest [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, today announced that sales grew 10% in the week to 10 April, compared with the same period a year ago. The renowned employee-owned department store said customers are still spending despite the uncertainty over next months’ election. The firm has been outperforming [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today revealed the High Street continued its recovery in March with UK retail sales rising at their fastest rate in almost four years. According to the BRC, the rise was boosted by Easter shopping as consumers stocked up on chocolate, food and drink for the Easter weekend. The BRC [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today revealed the High Street recovered in February after a dismal January, which saw shoppers avoid the stores due to the heavy snowfall. According to the BRC, like-for-like sales were up 2.2% on the year but analysts issued caution since the figures compare with poor trading in February 2009. [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said shops in Central London enjoyed their best December since records began in 2002, with sales up 12% on year. The report came just a week after the BRC reported that Britain experienced an annual 4.2% rise in sales during December. Both sets of figures will boost hopes that the [...]
Discount clothing retailer Primark joins other major retailers by announcing bumper sales over the festive period. Primark’s parent group, Associated British Foods, said the chain is benefiting from consumers opting for cheaper clothes with sales particularly strong in the UK and Spain. The group said: “Trading results for this period were very encouraging and ahead [...]
Fashion and homewares chain Matalan has joined other major retailers by posting strong Christmas sales. The retailer, which is traditionally based in out-of-town locations, said like-for-like sales for the 13 week period ending 2 January grew 9.3%, with like-for-like sales for the five weeks over Christmas and the New Year up 13.7%. The chain, which [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today announced that the High Street experienced the strongest December for eight years, boosting hopes that the UK economy will have emerged from recession in the fourth quarter. According to the BRC, like-for-like sales grew 4.2% by value during December as last-minute Christmas shoppers boosted sales. However, the BRC [...]
Peacocks, which operates more than 500 fashion stores across the UK, posted a 17% rise in like-for-like sales on last year’s levels in December and early January. Richard Kirk, chief executive, said it had experienced a “cracking Christmas as customers decided they were going to celebrate after a year of doom and gloom”. Meanwhile, the [...]
Department store chain House of Fraser is the latest retailer to report bumper Christmas sales after the company reported that like-for-like sales (which strip out gains from new stores) were 7.1% higher than 2008 levels. The group said it had enjoyed its best ever Christmas week and also saw a Boxing Day sales surge 27%. [...]
Major retailers have experienced a bumper festive season but the British Retail Consortium (BRC) is warning the High Street not to be bullish as a “very tough” 12 months is in store. Last week, British retailing giant, Marks and Spencer, reported its first sales growth in over two years. The 125-year-old retailer which sells clothes, [...]
A survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC)/KPMG has today revealed a rise in November retail sales of an annual rate of 1.8%. However, it was much less than the 3.8% annual growth seen the previous month as the figures were dragged down by falling food price inflation. Furthermore, the milder weather meant sales of [...]
The latest Consumer Confidence Index, released by market research company Nielsen and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), has revealed a rise in consumer confidence. The index shows an increase to 75, which is 10 points higher than the all-time-low reported in April this year. However, the BRC cautioned that despite the bounce in confidence, consumers [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today revealed a fall in retail sales for the month of August due to the rainfall which kept shoppers away from the High Street. UK like-for-like sales (which excludes new stores) fell 0.1% compared with August 2008, according to the BRC. Sales of clothing and footwear lost ground, while [...]
There are further suggestions of a recovery today after the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported a rise in retail sales for the month of July. According to the BRC, UK-wide like-for-like sales (which excludes new store openings) grew by 1.8% during the month compared with July 2008. The wetter weather in the second half of [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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